This is the template I use for my projects.

• Django
• Postgresql
• Redis
• Daemontools
• Compass

• setup.py for deployment using real packages. Do yourself a favor, don't use VCS for deployments.
• Local development with Foreman.
• Configuration entirely based on environment variables (no code changes when your deploy).
• SCSS/compass with simplified Frameless by @idan for layout management, responsive-ready.
• Integrated apps:
  • django-discover-runner
  • django-floppyforms
  • django-ratelimit-backend
  • django-redis-cache
  • django-sekizai
  • raven
  • And for development (in requirements-dev.txt):
    • django-debug-toolbar
    • flake8

To create a project using this template:

mkvirtualenv -p python2 project_name
workon project_name
pip install Django
django-admin.py startproject --template=https://github.com/brutasse/django-project-template/zipball/master --extension=py,rst,template project_name
cd project_name
find . -iname "*.template" -exec rename -v ".template" "" {} \;
pip install -r requirements.txt && pip freeze -l > requirements.txt

Then follow the instructions in the README file.

What follows is the README for projects created using this template.

cd /path/to/project
add2virtualenv .
gem install bundle
bundle install
pip install -r requirements-dev.txt
createdb -U postgres {{ project_name }}
make syncdb
make test

• Running the development server & compass:

  foreman start

  If you need more processes (queue workers, stub mail servers or other things), add them to the Procfile.

• Running the tests:

  make test

  Tests are located in the tests/ directory. Create files at will, the test runner will auto-detect tests if the file names begin with test.

This template uses environment variables for configuration and application secrets. The required environment variables are:

• SECRET_KEY: the secret key for Django
• DATABASE_URL: a heroku-like database URL.

Optionally you can use:

• DEBUG: set it to something non-empty to switch to a development environment. Obviously, don't set it in production.
• SENTRY_DSN: your DSN for sending exceptions and 404's to Sentry.
• REDIS_URL: a heroku-like URL to configure redis. If you set it, redis will be used as a cache backend and the message and session storage engines will use it whenever possible.

Environment varibles are defined using the env directory. To set an environment variable, add a file to the env directory with the appropriate content. When you run any command in your project, manage.py reads the files in env and exposes them as environment variables.

This replicates the behaviour of Daemontools's envdir program, which you can use in production to set environment variables properly.

Do not use foreman to deploy apps created this way. Run setup.py sdist, export the distribution to your own PyPI server and use pip to install it on your production machines. Or convert the python distribution to a system package if you prefer.

Use daemontools's envdir program to manage application secrets (SECRET_KEY, DATABASE_URL, SENTRY_DSN, etc.).

Use a process watcher such as supervisor or circus to run the web server. Example:

envdir /path/to/config /path/to/env/bin/gunicorn {{ project_name }}.wsgi -k gevent -b 127.0.0.1:8000 -w 2

The combination of envdir and an installable package makes it extremely simple to automate your deployments.